The Chicago Gardener

Pansies in a pot can be moved indoors if frost threatens

March 22, 2009|By Beth Botts

If you just have to plant something before you burst, get a nice pot, fill it with light, moistened potting mix and plant cold-hardy pansies, such as these from Ball Horticultural that rejoice in the moniker of "Ultima Radiance Lilac." Pansies can handle a light freeze, but if a bitter temperature drop threatens, you will be able to move the pot into the garage or vestibule for protection. Don't buy pansies (or any annuals) that already are in full bloom at the garden center; buy ones that are just starting to open. That way they will spend all their bloom time at your house.

Thoughtful fertilizer disposal: So this is the year you decide you're going to be an organic gardener. You should immediately throw away all the synthetic fertilizers accumulated in your basement, right? Wrong. If you dump such fertilizers down the drain or toss them in the garbage, the large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus they contain likely will find their way into the ground water or lakes and rivers and add to pollution problems.

The best way to dispose of unwanted fertilizers is through plants, which can process them in small doses. If you use too much, the plants will overdose and the excess will harm valuable microorganisms in the soil and end up in the groundwater. So use the fertilizer up very gradually on containers or annual beds, at half the strength suggested in the instructions, or even less. Use lawn fertilizer, which is very high in leaf-pushing nitrogen, only on lawns or foliage plants. An occasional light sprinkle of lawn fertilizer in the compost heap won't hurt either. It may take years to get these chemicals out of your garage and basement, but that's OK; synthetic fertilizers never spoil. Meanwhile, work on building your soil with compost.

Pesticides, of course, are poisons and should be disposed of as household hazardous waste. (That includes weed-and-feed products.) Ask your municipal government when collection days of hazardous waste will be held or see chicagotribune.com/iepa for drop-off days.

Dunes day: The Friends of the Indiana Dunes' native plant sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 4 at the Indiana Dunes State Park Pavilion, Indiana Highway 49 at Lake Michigan, Chesterton, Ind. Call 219-762-7748 or see www.friendsofindianadunes.org.